NDC comm CompuFax - Manual (Page 102)

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Programming Information
Com puFax provides t w o fac ilit ies t o c ust om ize it s user int erfac e:
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Dat abase Int erfac e
•
Callable Com m and Int erfac e.
10.1 User-Written Database Applications
CompuFax supports an interface to a database lookup application, which allows database keys to be translated
into fax phone numbers. It also allows mail-merge operations on documents to be done automatically, using
data from database records.
A simple database lookup program, FAX_DB.EXE, has been provided with CompuFax, but you may wish to
write your own application, using the supplied library of functions. The library functions allow you to
interface CompuFax to your own database programs.
Developing an interface between CompuFax and your own database application is relatively easy. An object
library of callable functions has been provided to take care of most of the overhead of communications and
other CompuFax internal considerations.
This allows the user to easily interface to their existing database without the necessity of maintaining a
separate database for CompuFax. It is also possible to allow each user to have his own database.
It is not necessary that the database application respond to requests in the order that they are received. It is up
to the implementor whether to respond to requests one at a time or to implement processing that may
complete a later request before an earlier one.
Before writing a CompuFax database application, you may want to consider the possibility of using your
existing database to create a file compatible with FAX_DB. In some cases the existing report generation
capabilities of a database can be used and the overhead of writing an application saved.
10.1.1 Work ing Wit h Com puFax
The CompuFax database application is a detached process. It wakes up whenever it receives a request from
the CompuFax server or the command processor. These requests are serviced and the results returned to the
requestor. The mechanics of communications are handled by the FDB (CompuFax database) interface
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